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Renewables Will Overtake Coal | Earth Wise

January 17, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

According to a recent report by the International Energy Agency, worldwide growth in renewable power capacity is set to double in the next five years.  In fact, by 2027, the world will add as much renewable power as it did over the previous 20 years.

Of particular significance is that renewables are going to overtake coal as the largest source of electricity generation by early 2025.

The global energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine has had multiple effects on the evolution of the energy system.  While the war has driven a resurgence in fossil fuel consumption in Europe in order to replace gas from Russia, that resurgence is expected to be short-lived.  Instead, the current energy crisis may turn out to be an historic turning point toward a cleaner and more secure energy system.

Soaring fossil-fuel prices triggered by the war have caused many countries to respond by embracing wind turbines, solar panels, nuclear power plants, hydrogen fuels, electric vehicles, and electric heat pumps.  In the US, Congress approved more than $370 billion in spending for clean energy technologies as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.  China, India, South Korea, and Japan have all increased their national targets for renewable power.   However, heating and cooling buildings with renewable power remains a sector needing larger improvement, according to the energy agency.

Overall, the expansion of renewable power over the next five years is now projected to happen much faster than what was projected just one year ago. The new IEA report revised last year’s forecast for renewables growth by 30% as a result of the introduction of new policies by many of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters.

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Renewables Will Overtake Coal by Early 2025, Energy Agency Says

Photo, posted March 8, 2021, courtesy of Stanze via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Decarbonizing Could Save Trillions | Earth Wise

October 18, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Decarbonizing could save $12 trillion globally

Scientists have long been calling for a transition to clean energy to prevent catastrophic impacts of climate change.  For much of that time, many people and, specifically, many of those in power, were skeptical of the need to do something about the warming climate.  But even as the facts about the changing climate became increasingly undeniable, there continued to be fears that the transition to clean energy sources would be unacceptably expensive and harmful to the economy.

A recent study published by Oxford University shows that the opposite is true:  a concerted effort to convert to green energy technologies such as solar, wind, and batteries, will save the world enormous amounts of money.

The Oxford study shows that a transition to nearly 100% clean energy by 2050 results in a lower-cost energy system that provides energy access to more people around the world.  The energy transition is expected to save the world at least $12 trillion compared to continuing our current levels of fossil fuel use.

The cost of renewable energy sources has been going down for decades and they are already cheaper than fossil fuels in many situations.  It is expected that they will become cheaper than fossil fuels across almost all applications over time.  Accelerating the transition will allow renewables to become cheaper faster.

The study made use of probabilistic models to estimate the costs of various possible future energy systems based on past data.  Even the most pessimistic models showed that scaling up green technologies is likely to drive their costs down so far that they will generate net cost savings and that the faster the transition goes, the more will be saved.  The result will be a cleaner, cheaper, more energy secure future.

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Decarbonising the energy system by 2050 could save trillions

Photo, posted July 12, 2010, courtesy of Tom Shockey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Weaning Off Fossil Fuels | Earth Wise            

June 2, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

How to break free of our dependence on fossil fuel

We recently talked about California producing 97% of its electricity from renewables on one sunny afternoon in April.  On May 8th, the state produced enough renewable electricity to meet 103% of consumer demand.  These sorts of records are likely to be increasingly commonplace in the spring when the weather is still fairly mild.

But even while renewables were producing more electricity than California needed, natural gas power plants in the state were still running.

Turning off the gas power plants is not possible.  The reason is that as the sun sets and solar farms stop producing power, California has to quickly replace the power with electricity from other sources.  Natural gas plants are massive industrial facilities that cannot be turned on and off rapidly.  Some take as many as 4 to 8 hours to switch on.  Operators back them down as far as they can go, but even when there is plenty of solar power during the day, natural gas plants are still running.

The state is rapidly building huge battery storage projects as an alternative to gas plants, but so far, they are still only a small fraction of what is needed.   Wind power is another part of the solution along with hydropower.  California imports some power from other states as well and, in fact, also exports power when there is excess.  But keeping the energy system balanced and stable is an ongoing challenge.

California is building huge amounts of solar, huge amounts of wind, and huge amounts of energy storage, which should get the state to at least 90% of the way to a clean grid.  It’s the last 5-10% that is much harder to accomplish before natural gas is no longer part of the energy system.

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California just ran on 100% renewable energy, but fossil fuels aren’t fading away yet

Photo, posted January 10, 2014, courtesy of F.G. via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Green Hydrogen | Earth Wise

December 11, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Countries betting big on hydrogen

Saudi Arabia is a country built around oil, but it is now placing a big bet on green hydrogen as the next big thing in its energy future.  The country is constructing a $500 billion futuristic city called Neom in the desert along the Red Sea.  The brand-new city will be home to a million people, and it will be powered by green hydrogen.

The U.S. company Air Products & Chemicals has been building a green hydrogen plant there for the last four years.  The giant plant will be powered by 4 gigawatts of wind and solar projects.

Green hydrogen is hydrogen produced without carbon emissions.  Most hydrogen produced commercially is made from natural gas, which results in CO2 emissions.  Green hydrogen is made by using electricity to split water into its component elements using renewable energy to power the process.

Saudi Arabia is an ideal place for a giant green hydrogen plant.  The Middle East has the world’s cheapest wind and solar power.  The sun reliably shines there almost every day and the wind blows almost every night.

While some proponents argue that hydrogen should fuel the entire energy system, other experts see it as a more targeted solution.  The view is that wind and solar power can provide the electricity we need to power homes and electric cars.  However, green hydrogen could be ideal to power energy-intensive industries like concrete and steel manufacturing, as well as parts of the transportation sector that are more difficult to electrify.

While green hydrogen is barely on the radar in the US, around the world a green hydrogen rush is underway, developing it as an energy source that could help end the reign of fossil fuels.

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Green Hydrogen: Could It Be Key to a Carbon-Free Economy?

Photo, posted November 6, 2020, courtesy of RSM Chrystie via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Renewables Could Take Over By 2035 | Earth Wise

July 15, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Renewable energy taking over

A study by UC Berkeley looked at the prospects for renewable energy sources to become the primary source of energy in the United States over the next 15 years.  Even though fossil fuels continue to fill that role at present, the plummeting costs of alternative energy sources – primarily solar and wind power – are making them increasingly attractive on the competitive market.

These cost reductions have occurred much faster than what was anticipated even just a few years ago.  According to the study, it is technically and economically feasible for renewable sources to provide 90% of our electricity by 2035.

The Berkeley researchers took the available data on renewable energy and created two scenarios for the next 15 years.  The first has energy policy remaining as it is now, without ambitious policy changes that encourage the growth of renewable energy.  In that scenario, they estimated that 55% of the US energy infrastructure would come from renewables.  That amount will not produce the change needed to meet Paris Climate Agreement goals but would simply come about because of the dramatically lower costs for renewable energy.

The second scenario includes state and federal governments leading the way to finance and facilitate the energy reform needed for a greener 2035.  It also relies on the large-scale use of grid-scale batteries to store the energy collected from solar and wind installations for when it is needed.

Which scenario is more realistic will depend on several major influential factors, notably the trajectory and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the results of the November elections.   These things will have a huge impact on the future of our energy system.

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Report: By 2035, 90 Percent of the US Could Be Powered by Renewables

Photo, posted May 25, 2019, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Harvesting Blue Energy | Earth Wise

February 7, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

researchers closer to harvesting osmotic energy

There are various ways to generate renewable energy from the world’s oceans, most obviously from the power of tides and waves.  But there is also an oceanic energy source called osmotic or “blue” energy.  Osmotic energy uses the differences in pressure and salinity between freshwater and saltwater to generate electricity. 

When freshwater and saltwater are mixed together, large amounts of energy are released. If the freshwater and seawater are then separated via a semi-permeable membrane, the freshwater will pass through the membrane and dilute the saltwater due to the chemical potential difference. This process is called osmosis. If the salt ions are captured completely by the membrane, the passing of water through the membrane will create a pressure known as osmotic pressure. This pressure can be used to generate electricity by using it to drive a turbine.  This has been demonstrated to work as far back as the 1970s, but the materials we have to use are not adequate to withstand ocean conditions over the long term and tend to break down quickly in the water.

New research, published in the journal Joule, looked to living organisms for inspiration to develop an improved osmotic energy system.  Scientists from the U.S. and Australia combined multiple materials to mimic the kind of high-performance membranes that are found in living organisms.  They created a hybrid membrane made from aramid microfibers (like those used in Kevlar) and boron nitride.  The new material provides both the flexibility of cartilage and the strength and stability of bone.

The researchers believe that the low cost and high stability of the new hybrid membrane will allow it to succeed in volatile marine environments.  They also expect the technology will be both efficient and scalable. 

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Inspired by the Tissues of Living Organisms, Researchers Take One Step Closer to Harvesting “Blue Energy”

Photo, posted February 14, 2017, courtesy of Marian May via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

New Milestones For Renewable Energy

August 7, 2017 By EarthWise

https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/EW-08-07-17-New-Renewable-Energy-Milestones.mp3

There is no question that solar power has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years, but whenever one really looked at the numbers, it seemed to still be only a tiny fraction of the country’s power generation – until quite recently, less than one percent.

[Read more…] about New Milestones For Renewable Energy

Cheap Wind And Solar Power

February 1, 2017 By EarthWise

https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/EW-02-01-17-Cheap-Wind-and-Solar-Power.mp3

Multiple studies are now reporting that wind and solar power are the cheapest way to make electricity in a growing number of places around the world.   A thorough analysis of the levelized cost of energy – which considers every cost component from capital expenditures to operating and maintenance costs over a lifetime – shows that solar and wind power are winning the day.

[Read more…] about Cheap Wind And Solar Power

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